Everts and Philippaerts Win in Sweden

By Freelance | 7/3/2006 12:00 AM

Rinaldi Yamaha rider Stefan Everts went nine-for-nine in the MX1 class after winning the Grand Prix of Sweden last weekend. Everts finished ahead of fellow Belgian Steve Ramon (Suzuki) and Josh Coppins (Honda). In the MX2 class it was KTM factory rider David Philippaerts who took his third GP victory in a row and moved a little closer to series leader Christophe Pourcel (Kawasaki), who finished second in the MX2 class, third was Tommy Searle (Kawasaki).

Everts took his fifth pole position of the season yesterday and did not hide his lack of fondness for the Uddevalla undulations, stating that the venue was one of his "least favorites" of the calendar, hardly surprising as the Belgian has not won in Scandinavia since 2003.

"This is not my favorite track here in Sweden," Everts said. "So I knew it would be tough because in the past two years I had been struggling. However I took a good pole when everybody was close together and the first race went OK. Barragan kept close and I had a three-second lead but I made a mistake in the whoops and he caught up, then we were into the lappers. It was tight at the end and I felt a bit tired because of the heat. I rested in between the races and then the second one was better. After the mistake the first few laps were pretty hard because everyone was going fast and it was not easy to pass. I saw the Suzuki guys pull away and I thought second might be possible but first was a long shot. At one stage Steve stopped gaining seconds on me and then started to lose them; that gave me some wings! I pulled harder and it was close. It was exciting for the crowd."

In the first moto Everts enacted a now familiar routine for his many fans by seizing the lead on the first lap and controlling the race from his pursuers. The Belgian notched his fourteenth moto win in a row despite the moto-long presence of Jonathan Barragan and a distance between the pair that fluctuated between one and three seconds for the total of a very hot 35-minute and two-lap duration. On the last two laps it was the Intur Sports team rider who was more decisive through a pack of backmarkers and the first step in his 96th victory was complete.

As in the British Grand Prix two weeks ago, Everts gave himself a harder job in the second sprint when he crashed on the first lap and had to work the entire race to catch his main rivals. Finally a fantastic performance was rounded off by overtaking leader Steve Ramon with one lap remaining to notch his 15th consecutive moto win. He now holds a career tally of 96 and is drawing ever closer to the big 'ton'.

The first MX2 sprint must rank as one of the best races this season. Three riders led proceedings with Christophe Pourcel, Antonio Cairoli and Philippaerts all taking their turn in the spotlight. A furious last lap dash between Cairoli and Philippaerts was decided on the final corner and by a tenth of a second when the winner of the Italian and British GP, who was using some new engine modifications and suspension alterations, ran fast and wide to beat his Yamaha rival. The closest finish in the sport this century thus far led to some confusion with Philippaerts not even knowing he had won the moto until he had pulled into the podium area. In the second outing on a bumpier and rougher track, the Italian had to concede spoils to Pourcel but second place was good enough for the overall.

"Today was really good," Philippaerts told. "In the first heat I picked up a decent speed after starting around tenth and beat Cairoli by less than a second at the flag so I was really pleased by that. I don’t know I had won but Alice came up to me and gave me the good news. In the second heat I saw that Pourcel was really fast and that Cairoli had gone and the others like Tyla and Marc were also behind. To win the GP and take some extra points was perfect. The second moto was very tiring because the track was so bumpy and there were a lot of lines so it was difficult."